Illegal immigrants seek sanctuary in burial place of French kings

By Philip Delves Broughton in Paris

12:01AM BST 20 Aug 2002

Hundreds of illegal immigrants have descended on Paris's Basilique de Saint-Denis, the burial place of France's kings, and are taunting the authorities to dare to forcibly evict them from such a sacred site.

The basilica's priest yesterday said he would not let the police in to drag away his "guests", and that he had the support of his bishop.

The immigrants, mainly from Africa and eastern Europe, say they are sick of fighting through France's bureaucracy and want to be given proper working and residency papers. Nearly 150 of them, some of whom have been in France for years, have set up camp in the basilica and many more are on their way.

Tourists must now step around the immigrants' sleeping bags and cookers, children lying on the stone floor and small groups chanting slogans to the tune of the Marseillaise.

All but three French kings between 900 and the Revolution were buried in the basilica and many are commemorated with statues and elaborate tombs.

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The immigrants began moving into the basilica at the weekend, with the support of its priest and bishop, under the direction of an immigrant group, Coordination 93. The group's goal is to have the basilica bursting with illegal immigrants by Saturday, the sixth anniversary of a police invasion of the church of St Bernard in northern Paris, which was occupied for several months by about 300 immigrants.

Father Bernard Berger, the priest at Saint-Denis, said yesterday: "All those who leave their countries do so because they must, because there is no work, or because of political or military dangers or reprisals. And it is never fun to be forced out of one's own country."